Of A White Tree And A Lady
by Niskala
Summary: When all seems bitter and cold, hope will chase all the loneliness away…if you let it. A girl from our time meets a character from the past and learned something valuable for the future…


Of A White Tree and A Lady

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**Disclaimer :** Character from the past, names, white tree and the green gem as well as the copy of the Red Book are not mine. Others are mine.

**Summary :** When all seems bitter and cold, hope will chase all the loneliness away…if you let it. A girl from our time meets a character from the past and learned something valuable for the future…

**Author's Note : **I apologize to those of you who read this fic before it was revised. I admit that I did not quite edit it, so it was terrible. This time, I edit it myself and if there are anymore mistakes, please do inform me! :) Again, I apologize for my lack of attention.

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They said there were spirits dwelling in that old park. Once it was a very busy park, filled with laughter and chatters of children and adults. Couples and families went there to enjoy each others' presence, and the trees and glades would sing to them an unheard elegy of a long lost kingdom. Still, the people would chatter on and ignore the pleas of nature to not trample the grasses and throw wastes upon the once holy ground. The glades and rivers wept.

The garden was deserted and it was left to die with all that was left of it. A new park was made to the south of the old one, complete with playgrounds, sandboxes and pathways that circled and dropped across the green and lush valley. No one ever visited the old park anymore save those who lost their path and sauntered to it, and those who did would hear a single clear voice sing an unknown and ancient song of an old realm's glory and splendour. It sang in a language unfamiliar to them, but they somehow understood that the glory was now lost, replaced by the dying branches which hung low in the cold autumn wind.

Some would see figures of men and women shining in the darkness, dancing to a silent waltz. The would dance with sorrow and bittersweet hope that people would remember them. That people would know of them who helped shape this world they lived in now. A few lucky ones would see a figure of a lone woman staggering to the highest hillock in the garden and crying in plea to the moonlight before disappearing with a gush of wind. Some said that they saw a couple by the river, whispering love words and lulling each other to sleep.

People never knew the story behind all that, and even if they did, they would never care. They never wanted to care about anything else other than their own lives. Little did they know, the spirits wanted them to know their tale, know what they had been through, know that they owed so much to them. Everyday they wished someone would come with the reason of wanting to know the real tale behind all of it and not because they strayed from their path. Everytime they cried, they cried for those who did not know and more to those who did not care.

Days flew by and the trees died, flowers withered and the garden slept in its lonely misery. Buildings grew all around it, streets buzzed with cars, people strode by the old garden without a single glance. They wept. Did they know what their people went through to help them build this society? Did they even know that they once existed? Still, eras passed and no one cared.

The girl was sixteen and like any other teenagers, did not care about a single thing except school, popularity and herself. Only now, she had something else to think about, that was, her boyfriend, or should she say, ex-boyfriend. She never knew why, even, she did not know what had made him come to breaking the relationship apart just this morning at school. She felt as if she was going to break him into pieces just because he said those six simple words, 'I think we should break up.'

She hated him, and she even loathed him for daring to step on her heart after shattering it into pieces. How could he? She had been with him through sorrow and joy for three years and that was what she got from all the times she saved her money so that she could help him buy a new basketball for the tournament? Or when she failed an exam because she cheered for his team from the audiences' seat? She felt as if she was going to strangle him for doing this to her, yet she felt as if that would never do any good whatsoever. Even, it would make him hate her back.

If she just let him be and accept the truth, maybe he would see the true her and come back to her, perhaps. No, it would never happen, she knew how stubborn he could get, he would never say sorry. It took him weeks to say that to her when they fought over authority. And now, they did not fight, he just said that he was bored of her and that he was tired of her worrying over everything he did and the list could go on of why he just did not want to be with her again.

She had just finished her singing course and, missing the bus because she was thinking of him again, decided to walk home instead of waiting for the next bus, the usual evidence of teenage persistence. Her firey hair was tied into a ponytail as it swished from side to side while she strode through the empty garden, checking if she could use it as a shortcut instead of circling the huge garden.

Her high-heeled boots produced thuds as it came in contacts with the barren and desolate ground. She quickened her pace as a flow of wind blew behind her ears as she was scared to be alone, escpecially in a garden where kidnappers and criminals might hide, or even ghosts. She shivered at the thought and shook her head, trying to brush the more-than-uncomfortable thought away. Her eyes then caught a single white tree standing tall with all its grace and beauty, and a light seemed to fall onto the tree, even as its leaves were starting to fall off its slender and ancient branches.

She wondered why only this special tree remained where other living things died or fled away and why did it start withering only now when the others have withered from a long time ago. It was as if it had been waiting for something, or perhaps held back by something. She was going to touch one of the fallen silver leaves on the ground just beside her feet when she heard something in her back mind sighed.

It cannot die when it still has the will and the hope that a new life will replace it. And it will see to it that it happens before it would want to wither…

She was shocked yet tried to ignore it and continued to reach out for the leaf when suddenly she stopped again, trying to concentrate to a sound of singing somewhere from the garden.

She listened intently, trying to find the source of the melancholy and bittersweet song when she saw a figure sitting on an old bench, she was facing its back. From her view, it seemed as if it was a woman with completely black hair and robes of blue and grey. She walked to the bench out of curiosity and found that it was the woman who was singing the sorrowful melody. The woman seemed to be occupied with singing that she did not realise the girl coming nearer, but abruptly, the singing stopped, leaving its echo in the swiftly silent garden. The girl was startled.

"Do not fear, child. Come." The woman whispered. The girl, even though scared and confused, walked to the front of a woman and she was even more startled when she saw the woman from the face.

Her eyes were grey and stars seemed to be in them, twinkling everytime she blinked. She had flawless alabaster skin and a sweet although rather mischievous smile which made her look as if she was almost the girl's age, naïve and innocent. Yet in her calm and serene manner, she seemed almost queenly and ancient, as if she was more than a thousand years old yet had not aged a bit. A poignant aura seemed to be around her, encasing her within it and even if she was smiling, the girl could see the deep pain and anguish etched in the features of her face, and with it sweet memories of joy and complete bliss. But the feature that startled her most were her ears, they were pointed like the ears of fairies in folk tales.

"My friends told me that this garden is dangerous, there are kidnappers and you might even be raped." The girl said. "You really need to go home." The woman smiled as if the girl was joking and the girl felt as if she had just said the most stupid thing she could ever say.

"I will be fine, this place is safe. Sit by me, if you please." She gestured to her right side. The girl never took her eyes off of the lady out of caution, but sat beside her anyway. "What's your name, if I may know?" she asked.

"Lauriniel, sounds weird, I know, just call me Laura." She answered casually. "And you?"

"Arwen." She replied.

"So, uh…what are you doing here?" Arwen turned at her and looked as if confused by her question. "You…you're not human, are you?" Laura stuttered.

"I have always been here, this is my home. And yes, I am not human." 

"Oh." She was taken aback by the answer. "And what are you, may I ask?"

"I am a memoir of the past, here to remind people of a time when the Firstborn, the elves who has the gift of immortality lived alongside Men." She explained pensively while looking out to the distance. Then she broke into a song which seemed to be a continuation to the melody Laura heard the first time. 

It was in a language she could not comprehend, but she somehow knew what it meant by its melody and tune. The song spoke of the bitterness of immortality and the sourness of mortality, where one would leave the bearer to witness the deaths of loved ones and the latter to make one leave before one's time. And most clearly it told of a mistake she would make a thousand times over was she given the chance again.

The song finished with an almost unheard last tune and like the first time it stopped, the melody lingered in the cold afternoon air. Arwen looked down and smiled despite the unshed tears that pooled in her shimmering eyes. Laura was left speechless.

"What was the song about?" she asked. Arwen blinked away the tears and turned to her slowly, engulfing her in the fullness of her gaze.

"Of me and my beloved, Estel…" her voice trailed. A question popped in Laura's head as Arwen reminisced her time of boundless bliss, silently staring into something she cannot really see.

"Are you a ghost?" she voiced her mind. 

"Yes. You can say it that way, but I am not fully dead." She retorted.

"D'you…D'you want me to do something for you? Because…I mean…ghosts would only hang around when their job's not finished and stuff…well, that's what I know of." She stammered.

"Actually yes," she smiled as she realised the girl's innocence. "I want you to take this and pass it on to your generation, do not let it be lost." She opened her hands to reveal an emerald gem wrought into the body of a silver eagle with wings outspread. Laura held her breath for what seemed like ages. The jewel has no diamond wrought in it, but the emerald gem itself glittered with the streetlamp and it seemed as if it has its own light in it and she had never seen a gem so huge even in magazines, she realised that it must be worth million of dollars.

"This…for me?" she was stunned. "I…I can't take this, I might lose it and then you will haunt me and my generations for eternity!" 

Arwen smiled wider, "If you lose it, then I will bring it back to your generation."

"Oh…Well, are you sure this is for me?" she was still unconvinced. "Maybe you mistook me for someone else."

"No, I know that you are the right one," she then took her hand and began to sing softly at first before gradually louder;

_"I sit beside the fire and think_

_Of all that I have seen,_

_Of meadow-flowers and butterflies_

_In summers that have been;_

_Of yellow leaves and gossamer_

_In autumns that there were,_

_With morning mist and silver sun_

_And wind upon my hair._

_I sit beside the fire and think_

_Of how the world will be _

_when winter comes without a spring_

_that I shall ever see._

_For still there are so many things_

_That I have never seen:_

_In every wood in every spring_

_There is a different green._

_For still there are so many things_

_That I have yet to feel:_

_In every moment every time_

_There is a different sense."_

Arwen stopped singing, yet her melody did not linger. Instead, there were soft sounds of flute and harp in the background, matching the song as if they were the accompaniments. The sounds were soft but strong, and it urged Laura to sing but she strained her lips not to open as she was afraid she might disturb the beautiful harmony.

"Your turn." Arwen said. "Sing."

"But I don't know this song." Replied her.

"Sing with me, then." She offered. Laura nodded and Arwen started the song again, louder this time with Laura singing quietly, afraid to make mistakes. With every word she sang, however, she felt more certain that she knew the song before and sang louder until the end. Unknown, to her, Arwen stopped singing at the second phrase;

I sit beside the fire and think 

_Of people long ago,_

_And people who will see a world_

_That I shall never know._

_But all the while I sit and think _

_Of times there were before,_

_I listen for returning feet_

_And voices at the door._

She stopped singing and was just going to say something to Arwen when she realised that she was alone in the garden and that Arwen had disappeared, leaving behind a tattered book and the jewel. Looking around, she tried to find where Arwen might have gone or walked away somehow, but she could find no one and again, her eyes caught something in the middle of a clearing. It was a single white tree standing with all its grace and beauty, yet it was not the same tree she saw before, it was only a sapling. 

Behind the sapling was the old tree, now withered, turned grey and wrinkled in just a short moment. Its leaves had all fallen to the ground, covering the sapling's surrounding earth as if trying to wrap it in its warmth, chasing away the cold night wind. Laura stood up, confused with all that had just happened and yet glad that it all had happened. A voice whispered to her;

When one still has hope, he will live to the end. Yet when one can only despair, he will only live to weep over his helplessness. Have hope, child, and weep if you will but do not despair.

She smiled and mouthed a thank you as she recognised the voice of Arwen. Taking the book and putting the jewel in her pocket, she strode away from the park with new resolution and new spirit. She would not weep over him anymore, come what may and go what may, someone else will take his place someday, somehow. 

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30 years later…

The fire was crackling low and a middle-aged woman sat by it, knitting as most grandmothers would do. Only that, she was not a grandmother yet, she will have to be patient still, time did not pass that quickly. Her daughter would come rushing in a few minutes and her prophecy came true as the door suddenly opened and the rushing of footsteps could be heard in the hallway as well as the voice of a young lady calling her name. A brunette girl rushed to her embrace and laughed despite the tears that washed her eyes. The tears were not out of sorrow, instead, it was out of joy.

"Mother, I graduated! I really did! Now I can help you work, right?", she asked with her bright grey eyes beaming. Laura almost cried at what her innocent girl should go through since she divorced her father and that she could neither go to college nor continue her education because of it. 

"Yes, my dear." She answered and put her hand into her pocket to draw a tiny packet wrapped in a shawl. The thirteen-year-old girl looked intently as Laura unwrapped the package to reveal a necklace with a bright green gem hung on its end as the pendant. Her jaw dropped as Laura put her hands around the girl's neck and put the necklace on. "It looks good on you." Laura commented.

"This…for me?" she wondered. Laura nodded as the girl jumped and hugged her, she put her arms around the girl too. She smiled through her tears, she never had any luck with her love life but she was sure that she would live happily ever after with her daughter, Arwen, which she named after the lady in the garden. She did not know why, but it just felt right.

The room was silent except for the fire's crackle, and as Laura continued to embrace her daughter, her gaze traveled to the end of the room where a shelf was neatly kept. Releasing her embrace, she sat up from her chair and took an old and tattered book from the shelf. She strode back to the chair and sat back down as Arwen sat on the carpet, ready to listen to her tale.

"Let me tell you my favorite one again." She started while opening the pages carefully. "It's a love story, between a man and an elf...." She smiled before continuing the story.

Night grew deep and the fire had died out. Arwen had gone to sleep dreaming about the story her mother just told her and somewhere someone was dreaming of the same thing too, wishing that he could meet her as much as she would want to meet him.

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Author's Note : For those of you who likes angsty and depressing but not essentially dark fics might want to read my upcoming fic titled 'Ire i Metima Lantaeli' which I have not yet uploaded. I am planning on finishing it until the last chapters before uploading it so that you guys would not have to wait for months for me to update. This story corresponds with that story and when I uploaded it and you read it, this story actually gave away the ending if you realise it.

I'm not going to give you anymore clue other than that I did not make any mistake on names in this fic and the clue will be on names and situations. See if you can guess! : )

PS: the tattered book is a copy of the Red Book. In the Appendix C, in the 'Family Tree's part, you can flip to 'The Longfather-Tree of Master Samwise'. Go to the bottom left and you should see the name Elanor the fair 1421 = Fastred of Greenholm. A note was put just on the right where it was written;

'They removed to the Westmarch, a country then newly settled (being a gift of King Elessar) between the Far Downs and the Tower Hills. From them came the Fairbrains of the Towers, Wardens of Westmarch, who inherited the Red Book and made several copies with various notes and later additions.'

So I take it, Aragorn should have one, him being the king and Sam's friend also Elanor being Arwen's Maid of Honour, of the Red Book's copy.

* The song that Arwen and Laura sang was Bilbo's Song taken from LoTR. It is copied verbatim except for the fifth verse which I added myself, I know it might ruin JRR Tolkien's magnificent poem but I felt the urge to put it in (blame my muses). I'm really sorry if it really ruined it, but please don't blame me for this, blame them!pointing at giggling muses


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